Although everyone experiences feelings of anger in daily life, people vary considerably in the intensity, expression, and regulation of anger. The proposed studies examine the cognitive mechanisms associated with individual differences in anger and anger resolution, with an eye toward understanding how such mechanisms might strengthen or lessen the intensified angry reactions of anger-prone individuals. Study 1 tests the hypothesis that high trait anger individuals are more likely than low trait anger individuals to make angry and hostile judgments of emotionally ambiguous stimuli. High and low trait angry individuals will be angered by a confederate and will then make judgments of situations that may be interpreted as anger-provoking or benign. Studies 2 through 6 test whether these judgments are the result of the use of ineffective anger regulation strategies, and whether the use of more effective strategies could reduce the tendency for individuals high in trait anger to make angry judgments. Study 2 tests the hypothesis that high trait angry individuals respond to anger-provoking situations by focusing on (or brooding on) the causes of their anger, whereas low trait angry individuals respond with mood-regulatory processes that direct attention away from angry thoughts. High and low trait angry individuals will be asked to re-experience an anger episode from the past; they will then list their thoughts as they occur over the next eight minutes. These responses will be coded by trained raters as anger-focused (or brooding ) or mood-regulatory (e.g., distraction). Study 3 tests whether trait angry individuals angry judgments can be reduced through the use of mood regulation strategies such as distraction, or whether such strategies are ineffective for trait angry individuals because they find it too difficult to disengage from the anger-provoking stimulus. High and low trait angry individuals will be angered, and then will participate in a response task designed to either focus their attention on the causes of the anger (anger-focus or brooding ) or away from the causes of anger (distraction). They will then be asked to make judgements of the same ambiguous situations as in Study 1. Study 4 is an attempt to replicate Study 3 using the same response task, but a less open-ended judgment task: homophones with angry/aggressive and neutral meanings (e.g., war-wore; damn-dam). Studies 5 and 6 test whether a third response to anger (positive reappraisal) is more effective than simple distraction in reducing angry judgments. High and low trait angry individuals will complete the same procedure as in Studies 3 and 4, except a positive reappraisal condition will be added to the response manipulation. In addition to shedding light on the cognitive mechanisms associated with trait anger, this research might also facilitate the development of clinical interventions (such as distraction or positive reappraisal) that could be used when reductions in angry judgments and emotional responses are desired.